This Sunday the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra will perform at Powell Hall, conducted by Steven Jarvi and featuring cellist Grant Riew in Elgar’s Cello Concerto. Riew is a junior at John Buroughs School and the winner of the youth orchestra’s 2014 concerto competition. Last year he and Christopher Halen took first place at the Fox Teen Talent Competition as the “Two Mellow Cello Fellows.”

After the devastating war that ravaged Bosnia and Herzegovina from early 1992 through 1995, refugees began arriving in the St. Louis area. And now the Bosnian population here has grown to more than 60,000, making it the largest Bosnian community outside of that country.

When Shannon Wood assumed the role of Principal Timpanist of the St. Louis Symphony last September, he had big shoes to fill. His predecessor Richard Holmes had been in the position for 41 years before his death in 2011. Wood never met his predecessor but was well aware of his reputation and was humbled to accept the position.